The next time he noticed, Jem found himself behind the iron bars. He was taken in custody by the human Law enforcer. He was detained for an hour and a half inside the jail. His case was an illegal use of beastly ability and breaching the Law of Equality. In truth, he was just chasing away the three children who were bullying the Ex-Human kid.
The three children were angry that he did not side with them. Although he managed to chase out the three children without causing any harm to both sides and rescued the kid that was being bullied, the three children came back with a group of men on their back.
"You motherf*#ker! How dare you, bullying these little kids!" Said the skin-head uncle in the middle.
"What?! I didn't do anything like that!" Jem said in haste and explained what happened. However, the battle had still occurred. The three adults did not listen to his words. They strongly believed the children's accusation of him. Or maybe they just wanted to believe what they wanted to believe.
It happened right after he got out of the alleyway. To defend himself and the kid, he had to fight back. Since he had natural-born superhuman strength for being an Ex-Human, he was able to defeat the three adults who came after him. However, he received a beating in the process. His clothes were torn, and bruises were on some parts of his body.
He could not even run away as they were blocking his way. And behind him was a dead-end alley.
He wondered why after they noticed his glowing fist, they started calling him a monster or any of that sort.
Although he had superhuman strength, it was not to the degree that he could one punch his enemy. He was only a little stronger and faster than the average human.
Also, he was not good at fighting with people. He used to fight wild animals in the mountains, but those were unintelligent creatures. In addition, besides making a glimmer on his fist, he could not find any other uses of his Ex-Energy. Defeating three armed enemies who were using metal pipe, knife, and a two-by-two wooden stick was already admirable.
Still, he felt so disappointed that he was the one who was taken by the Law Enforcer. It was because of those children's testimonies. Against the testimonies of three children, his testimony became self-defending and made-up. Whereas the testimonies of the three children give more weight than his. He was defeated and caught by the Law enforcer of the city. Such a first day of going into the academy. It was truly unexpected.
Unfortunately, those who had witnessed the start of the fight did not want to involve themselves. So, no one came to testify for him beside the Ex-Human kid with him.
The law enforcer did not even bother going deeper in their investigation. They probably thought it was bothersome.
Then again, he suspected that the main reason they were unfair from their judgment was that he was an Ex-Human. After noticing their gazes towards him and the Ex-Human kid, he felt it that way. He felt that something was not right with their gazes. Being a person with a self-conscious disability, helped him to develop the ability to be a perceiving person.
After an hour and a half, he was released. Thanks to Desty who came to help him. Though he had no idea how she did it.
"Jeez, I can't believe you!" she started saying her disappointment as soon as she saw him. "Then, what happened?" She asked with her hands on her hips.
"I was just trying to help an Ex-Human kid from the bullies…" he said and explained to her what truly happened.
"I see," She said. "But next time, if something like that will happen again, just turn a blind eye to it. If you feel guilty for doing it, then cover your eyes and ears so that you will not feel guilty for not helping them," and that's her advice which causes a little confusion for him.
"Why…?" He asked. "For equality's purpose…" she said while crossing her arms. "Equality?" Her reply had further confused him. She started walking away which Jem followed closely. While walking, she opened her mouth once again. "Yeah, we Ex-Human had only one goal, to destroy the Invaders, the alien race…" she paused and glanced above. "That's why we can't associate with normal humans. Most of them are afraid of our power. They are looking at us like we are monsters in their eyes. To prevent the issue from proliferating further and causing some conflict, the parliament implemented the Law of Equality. Ex-Humans were banned from using their power against the normal humans," she said then started moving a little faster. "Regardless, we are so late!" She added in a shout, then further increased the speed of her walk.
"....."
He followed her without further question. But in his mind, he had many questions about this so-called Law of Equality. And he felt that this Law of Equality was not equal at all based on how those law enforcers implemented it. But he knew that there were different kinds of people. On the positive side, it was truly a good law, but it depends on the person who carried out the law.
Desty had to call her Aunt who had a strong connection in the Law Enforcer to help her release him.
Right.
Jem remembered something. He asked her about the kid he rescued. She told him she had no idea. He fell silent and hoped the kid was fine.
"..."
The two of them were able to get their evaluation in the military academy. But his result shocked him and Desty. In fact, not only him, but it stunned the whole academy. It was a laughable result. First time in history that there was an Ex-Human who had lower than below-average Exo points. Desty's evaluation result was 7 Exo points while his only at 1 Exo point. These Exo points were their growth potential.
"Seriously? 1 Exo points? What kind of dog-shit potential is that? Ha-ha!" Said a male student as they passed by on a table where the disappointed Jem was currently sitting in the corner of the cafeteria. The news about his Exo points was already known to all in the academy.
"Regardless, of that person, I heard that there are two students who got 9 Exo points," said the other students.
Jem was thankful for these two mysterious students who got 9 Exo points. If not because of them, he would be the center of all talks everywhere in the academy. It would be bad if that was the case.
"Really?!"
"Yes, yes!"
The two students who were seated not far from him continued their conversations.
It was only the first week since Jem admitted to the Ex Soul Academy. It was a military academy for humans with superhuman strength and ability. The purpose of the academy was to train the Ex-Humans on how to develop their magical prowess efficiently. After all, they were the future protectors of the world and the humanities.
Jem was currently gazing outside, through the glass window at which he was sitting beside it. Many students were passing by. But inside the cafeteria, there were only a few students who were currently having their lunch. Jem pulled up his body. He could not waste more time. He needed to head to the training room. Even though he had pitiful growth potential, it did not lower his determination to learn and grow.
His reason for coming did not change a bit even after his evaluation result. In fact, it only made him more determined to move forward. Even if it is one if it were not zero, he could only move forward. His grandfather used to tell him that hardship is what makes a man a real man.
His only disappointment after coming to the academy was that there were only a few chances that he met Desty. In fact, in this one week, he only saw her about twice, and he was not able to talk with her. It was only to be expected as he was in the lowest class, while Desty was in the highest class. Their classrooms were located at the opposite end of each other.
Upon arriving in front of the door of the training room, Jem noticed that the door was not locked. 'Maybe some classmates are training inside. Then forgot to close it,' Jem said in mind.
But, when he came inside, he could not spot a person. It was empty. There were only those training materials freely lying on the floor.
Jem walked towards the dressing room. But before his hand reached the doorknob, he suddenly felt dizzy. "Damn, it looks like my excessive training took a bad effect on me…" he said and used his other hand to tap his head. Woosh, woosh, he tried getting rid of the dizziness by slightly shaking it.
Unexpectedly, his vision cleared a little, but not fully. He then decided to go to the washroom first. Maybe washing his face could fully get rid of it.
Jem walked towards the washroom. He directly opened the door and went inside. But unbeknown to him, after coming inside the washroom, Jem found himself in an awkward situation.
In front of him was a beautiful girl with long blonde hair and blue eyes. Jem could not help but gasp in admiration at her beautiful body and pretty face. In his whole life, he had never had a chance to witness such a great creation. He was even doubting his eyes if he was seeing a painting or a real person. Could it be that his dizziness was much worse than he thought? In fact, he could not recognize her. Also, he never saw her in their class. The beauty upon noticing Jem had widened her eyes. It was only natural since the girl was in a half-naked state, and she was in the act of putting on her underwear.
Jem knew at this very moment, heaven and earth were waving at him.
The next time he noticed, the girl's face turned red. Before he could even open his mouth to say something, at the corner of his eyes a shadow came flying like a shadow of a falcon. It came towards his face. Jem was not even able to block it. The kick came so fast that he doubted if it was a hallucination. The kick connected to his mouth and it was followed by a loud impact that trembled the whole training room.